


Defection

by applecup



Series: Fragments of a Fallen Empire [7]
Category: Star Wars Legends: The Old Republic (Video Game)
Genre: Canon Divergence, Fish out of water shenanigans, Gen, Light Side Sith Warrior, defector sith warrior, jedi under siege
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-17
Updated: 2019-09-26
Packaged: 2019-11-06 16:42:39
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 8,938
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17943431
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/applecup/pseuds/applecup
Summary: Eirnhaya Illte, formerly of the Odessen Alliance, has lost her last tie to the Sith Empire, and little desire to return to the home which once scorned her. When the opportunity presents itself, she takes the path her sister chose: the Republic, that terrifying ancient enemy of the Sith, and the only people who might be able to protect her from the Empire's fury. Even under the Republic's protection, though, the war is always near, and always conspiring to drag Eirn from the peaceful existence she craves into confrontations with enemies she thought long dead - and matters that must be settled, once and for all, before the galaxy burns.





	1. Chapter 1

'Captain Dorne. Thank you for coming.'

Which wasn't quite the right thing to say, somehow, if only for the way that Dorne tensed momentarily, and Eirn felt herself wince. It was hard enough trying to clumsily pick her way through a conversation with the Republic soldier as it was, and circumstances being what they were only made it worse.

Dorne, though, powered through it - sat herself down opposite Eirn, sitting almost as awkwardly in the cantina booth as Eirn was. At least the Nar Shaddaa cantinas were marginally less likely to go tattling to Lana about this conversation than the Odessen one was, though this didn't stop Eirn glancing nervously at every patron who so much as breathed in their direction.

_Calm down, Illte. You'll fuck this up by yourself at this rate._

'Of course,' Dorne started - more uncertain than she was anything else, and hardly putting Eirn at ease. For different reasons, perhaps, but her nervousness was unhelpfully contagious, all the same. 'Was there something you needed to talk about?'

'Yeah, I-' Eirn started - _stars_ , _Force_ , _Emperor_ \- _fuck, not him_ \- but this was _hard_ -

'I want,' she added, grabbing at the words and forcing them into the open before they could do the one thing she wanted to, and flee, 'to defect.'

-

Which was easier to say to Dorne than it had been to certain other technically-ex-Imperials, but this was a low bar to clear.

-

The downside of having been forced to face her fears so literally, figuratively, and frequently repeatedly, was that Eirn knew firsthand that reality both never measured up to what the mind could conjure, and yet was always somehow _worse_. There were no drugs, though, no threats - no _overt_ ones, at least, though Eirn knew that if she proved uncooperative, her new hosts would start to remember that list of charges that they still publicly held against her.

(She even still had the Force - there were no restraints, no collars, no numbing auras. It was a test, she supposed, of her cooperation - a privilege that could be revoked, an unspoken threat that could yet snap shut around her ankles)

No, if anything, it was the tedium that got to her - the same faces asking the same questions about the same things, wringing every drop of useful information out of their newest turncoat Sith. Or perhaps just to make sure she wasn't lying; Eirn had tried explaining repeatedly that her information about the Empire was a good seven years out of date, and Odessen - well, last she'd heard, it was down to Lana, a couple of droids, and whatever refugees hadn't found somewhere more permanent to move on to.

( _At least_ , she told herself, _you're not on Tython._ )

The arrival of the Barsen'thor changed that.

-

Eirnhaya Illte and Nisha Kyo had met before, of course - Kyo had been present on Marr's ship, that fateful day, there at the head of the Republic's token-seeming effort. More than a few Imperials had resented the fact that the Republic was risking so little, and Eirn had been among them - even if she'd saved most of her resentment for Marr, who grasped the leash that the Dark Council had forced around Eirn's neck far too eagerly. Marr had once had his sights on the Throne, of course - even before Ziost, even in the days when Vitiate was a Sith whom Eirn had served willingly.

That had been years ago, though, even for Eirn - who looked at Kyo across the forcefield in the interrogation room with as much irritated defiance as she could muster. It was part habit, and part deliberate; while Kyo had never been an enemy, other than in the strictest of technicalities, they'd never quite seen eye-to-eye, either.

'Master Kyo. Never expected to see you here.'

There were chairs, of course, and Eirn was slumped in hers - pushing her hair back irritably when it flopped out of place, but otherwise as much bored as she was anything else. She'd been trying to grow it out, and not just because she didn't trust anyone here to cut it; she hadn't had long hair since she was a teenager, but- well, she hadn't had a lot of things since she was a teenager.

'Ms. Illte,' Kyo replied - smiling that serene, brickable smile of Jedi who know far more than they want to let on. 'I admit I never imagined you might defect.'

'Yeah, well,' Eirn harrumphed, 'I surprised us both, there.'

So Kyo knew about him, then; that, or she'd made an accurate guess. It wouldn't have taken much, Eirn reflected - she wasn't exactly residing in married quarters. Living quarters here in general were barely half a step up above imprisonment, though couples were permitted to remain together - that much she knew, and resented knowing.

'What do you want?' Eirn added, before the Jedi could direct the conversation somewhere unpleasant. 'I'm guessing you're not here for the conversation.'

Kyo's smile twitched in momentary amusement, and for that brief moment, Eirn felt a distinct sense of dread at the thought of impending Jedi humour. 'No,' Kyo replied. 'I came here to make you an offer.'

'I'm not converting,' Eirn replied, flatly - that had been something else she'd taken pains to impress upon the Republic, though it apparently hadn't sunk in. If they wanted her on Tython, though, she wasn't going to go without a fight.

'I don't expect you to,' Kyo replied, all the more amused for Eirn's irritation. 'SIS informed me you were... quite passionate, on that subject.'

Which Eirn could only assume was more Jedi humour, and which was thus responded to only with an irritated snort.

'They also tell me,' Kyo continued, 'That you're angling for Republic citizenship. There's... political resistance,' she half-mused, 'To granting it to someone with your... history. But the gratitude of the Jedi can go a long way to smoothing such things over.'

'And what exactly,' Eirn replied, 'Do the Jedi want in return?'

( _And why are they asking in such a roundabout way? Is this a_ Jedi _thing, or just a_ diplomat _thing?_ )

'A new settlement on one of the ancient Jedi homeworlds,' Kyo began, finally getting to her point, 'Has caught the attention of the Empire. It's outside Republic space, so there are limits to how much they can help. I'm leaving in a few hours to render my own assistance. A mutual friend of ours suggested that you might be a candidate to join me.'

A Sith, defending a Jedi homeworld. This truly _was_ a Jedi's idea of humour, and if it hadn't been for Kyo's aura, Eirn would have assumed an unpleasant laugh was in order. Kyo didn't seem to be lying, though - if anything, the concern when she spoke about the besieged world sounded genuine enough. And Eirn- well, Eirn knew that the Sith would never pass up a chance for what would be sold to them as avenging Korriban.

'A friend,' Eirn repeated, unimpressed. They had mutual acquaintances, of course, and Eirn could think of several people who might think of this as a favour.

'It's entirely up to you,' Kyo added - an attempt, Eirn could only assume, to reassure her she had a choice, here. Or pretend she did. One of the two, and Eirn wasn't sure, any longer, just how uncharitable an assessment the Jedi deserved.

'I understand,' Kyo continued, 'If you'd prefer not to face the Empire. Especially on behalf of the Jedi. But- I mean it when I say that you would earn the gratitude of a lot of people.'

_A test_ , Eirn realised - a gamble, and Eirn wasn't sure what it said about her that Kyo would even suggest this. That the Republic would allow her to risk Eirn's loyalties, to risk _Eirn_ , in facing the Empire.

( _But what greater weapon_ , the memory of a voice from a historical holo mused, _than to turn an enemy to your own cause?_ )

'Fine,' Eirn replied, though - sighing to herself, but- well, it would mean fresh air and sunshine and- being shot at and having to face Sith, having to- fight Imperial troops, and her stomach clenched at a thought she didn't even want to acknowledge having, and it took all her focus to push those worries away, especially while in the company of Jedi.

'One condition,' she added - one last pointed defiance, 'I want my lightsaber back.'

It had been confiscated, of course, along with a lot of her other belongings - to be _looked after_ , she'd been assured, though Eirn had no doubt that they too were being scoured for clues and intel. It was precisely why Anya had advised her not to take any datapads or holos, as much as Eirn would have committed any number of heinous crimes to get her hands on something _, anything_ ,written in Imperial Basic. Not that she couldn't read Republic, but like most foreign scripts, it made her head hurt, and all the more so for the acute embarrassment that went with having the reading pace of a child.

'Of course,' Kyo replied, still smiling - still _amused_ , and Eirn hated her for it. 'Your other gear will be returned to you, as well.'

_Well, that was far too easy._

'Great,' Eirn replied \- gesturing, slightly uselessly, in a sort of animated defeat. 'When do we get started?'

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> for the time being, this exists in its own little bubble AU - it follows Unification, but I haven't decided how 'canon' it is to that particular timeline.


	2. Chapter 2

Their destination, Eirn learned eventually, was a planet called Ossus - not one that Eirn had ever heard of, but Jedi homeworlds were of vanishingly low interest to her. More than anything, she was glad for the change of scenery, even if she wasn't exactly given the run of Kyo's ship. Once they'd departed, though, Kyo seemed content to leave Eirn to her own devices - an almost-trust that made Eirn all the more certain that she was being watched, even while alone. 

Eirn took the opportunity to service her lightsaber, now that it was back in her possession; not just to feel its weight in her hand again, the reassuring familiarity of its grip against the palm of her hand, but to inspect it, millimetre by millimetre. It was to keep her mind busy as much as it was to satisfy her paranoia that the Republic had stripped it, during its absence, and put it back together incorrectly - through either malice or incompetence, her fear unable to decide which was more likely. She still refused to use the Force to do so; still refused to acknowledge that she lacked the fine control to, still stubbornly worked at half the speed of other Sith. It was harder, without the cradle she'd had aboard the _Pathcarver_ or in her own apartments - but she managed, availing herself of the toolkit she found among the rest of her gear, all present and correct in a way that made her suspect that Kyo had anticipated her agreement to this madness before she'd even asked.

The Jedi couldn't leave her entirely be, of course; imposed on her without imposing, as though imposition were truly possible on Kyo's own ship. 

'May I?' Kyo at least made a show of asking to join Eirn, though, at the table in the main hold that Eirn had settled at in order to work on her lightsaber. 

Eirn said nothing \- just gestured at the empty seat across from her, in turn, before turning her attention back to her lightsaber. It was slow, delicate work, made slower by her own stubbornness, but that was all the more reason not to pause.

'I see you managed to find your things,' Kyo added - a sort of amusement in her tone that unsettled Eirn.

'If we're walking into a fight,' Eirn replied, slowly, 'I'd rather not be unarmed.' Not that Sith ever truly were; even if her lightsaber was unavailable, she'd have the Force. Her hands, her nails, her words, her _teeth_.

'A sensible precaution,' Kyo replied, her attention all on Eirn's work. 

It was attention that Eirn couldn't help but dislike, not least because it made her feel _judged._ The slow speed at which she worked, her refusal- her _inability_ to use the Force to aid her; the places were Sith lightsabers differed from Jedi ones, and where Eirn was quite certain that the Jedi would judge her for it, too.

'If you don't mind me saying so,' Kyo began to add, 'It's a beautiful lightsaber. I've never seen one quite like it.'

Which made Eirn smile, just a little, even if that felt like a fish for information. Some way to prod her for something that could be held against her, some way to sniff out more of her secrets.

_Or perhaps_ , Eirn chided her paranoia, _she's trying to be friendly._ Friendliness from Jedi was something that had never stopped being somehow worse, though, than hostility - tripped a lifetime's worth of indoctrination, a bone-deep certainty that Jedi were never to be trusted, and certainly never to be befriended.

'It was my mother's,' Eirn replied, slightly proudly, all the same. Her mother's, and her mother's grandmother's, and some complicated chain of ancestors that Eirn had never been interested in until it was too late to learn who they'd been.

That her mother was no longer able to wield it still hurt, a little, but Eirn was simultaneously dramatic enough to want to think that when she fought with it, her mother - and all her unknown ancestors - fought with her, and embarrassed enough by Sith dramatics that this was not a thought she gave time to while in the company of Jedi.

'Your mother's?' Kyo repeated, half to herself - adding, before Eirn could latch onto that, 'Then I imagine you are all the happier for its return.'

Which, true as it was, wasn't something that Eirn really wanted to get into with a Jedi, of all people - never mind admit, and the non-committal _hm_ she forced out was as much an _I-don't-wish-to-discuss-this_ as it was technically an agreement.

'There is something you should know, before we arrive,' Kyo continued, when it became clear that Eirn apparently had no intention of responding further. 'I wasn't able to say anything before. But-'

Eirn paused, as Kyo was speaking; turned her attention more fully to the Jedi, and wondered abruptly if she wasn't about to regret agreeing to this arrangement.

'Your former apprentice,' Kyo stated, before Eirn could interrupt. 'Jaesa Willsaam, is with the Jedi on Ossus. I apologise for keeping this from you, but- I couldn't go into detail, before.'

Kyo seemed to be bracing herself as she spoke - preparing herself for some poor reaction or another, which only made the parts of Eirn that noticed this want to react poorly. 

'Jaesa's- alive?' Eirn just began, though - not quite sure she'd heard correctly, that she wasn't imagining Kyo's words, that she was setting herself up for disappointment - or worse.

'She is,' Kyo replied - smiling just a little, though it was hard to tell what emotion lay behind that smile. 'Alive, and well.'

'Does she,' Eirn started - trying to push the million questions she was suddenly burdened with to one side, 'Does she- know I'm-?'

_Coming to Ossus? Alive? A traitor?_

'No,' Kyo replied, not waiting for Eirn to finish struggling with the words. 'Ossus has been under a communications blackout. We're not certain if the Empire is able to intercept our communications, but it's not worth the risk.'

Which promised nothing good about what awaited them there, and Eirn felt a faint dread begin to settle about her shoulders. 

'I see,' she replied, dubiously - squashing as much of her reaction as she could, and watching all the while for a sign that the Jedi had noticed it. 

Kyo, though, was just studying her in turn - for a moment, at least, before that studiousness disappeared, swept away in favour of a sort of neutral trustworthiness that Eirn couldn't help but mistrust on principle. 

'Well,' Kyo added, 'I shall let you work in peace. Make sure to get some rest before we reach Ossus. The crew quarters are available to you, and Ceetoo is available if you need any assistance.'

Kyo's droid had made its presence known already; Eirn liked and trusted it about as much as she liked and trusted any Republic droid, but this was not a problem she currently had the means to rectify.

'Sure,' Eirn replied - pointedly absently, making a show of her attention being back on her lightsaber. 'I'll- be here, I guess.'

-

There was something distinctly unsettling, though, about attempting to sleep on a ship without Imperial mood lighting; something distinctly unsettling about attempting to sleep on a ship at all, much to Eirn's irritation. Apparently her time in SIS's custody had gotten her used to nights without the background hum of a hyperdrive or the faint clanking of air circulators. That, and it felt unpleasantly lonely; more so, somehow, than when she'd been on her own. Kyo's vessel was small, but there were bunks and space for a crew of at least three others, none of which were occupied - and Kyo undoubtedly had her own quarters. Which meant it was just the two of them, and the droid, on the whole ship; a Jedi Master and a failed Sith, a comparison that Eirn felt all the worse over the more she dwelled on it.

She did sleep, though, of a sort; napped fitfully, her dreams a tangled mess of worries that evaporated in the soft Jedi lighting, like the unattended puddles left behind after a spring rainstorm. There was no rest to be found here, but no nightmares, either, and for that, Eirn wasn't certain she was ungrateful.

-

Ossus itself, both in holos and on landing, just reminded Eirn of Korriban.

A reddish-orange desert world, home for millennia to Force users, before being driven from it by their enemies - even if, on investigating the histories, Eirn was unsurprised to learn that Ossus's destroyer had not been a True Sith, but a dark Jedi, wearing her heritage like a festival mask. There were other similarities, though; the reclamation of an ancestral homeland, the fledgling colonies that faced threats from sworn enemies. Eirn knew without making it that it would be a comparison that the Jedi would take poorly, though, so it was a thought she kept to herself.

The Force was different here, though; Korriban was steeped in fear and hatred like some ancient vintage, left to ferment in its own muck in the lowest reaches of a ruined manse's cellars. Ossus, though wounded, was not like that; the strongest feeling Eirn could pick up from the world itself was that of the anticipation of the first shoots of spring, about to break the ground after a long, harsh winter. It was an almost _romantic_ notion - seductive, in the tale it promised of renewal and rebirth, and for all her love of the stage, it was the sort of omen that Eirn hated as soon as she recognised it enough to want to dismiss it.

It was nice, though, Eirn had to admit, to feel the sun on her skin and the breeze in her hair, after endless weeks of controlled lighting and filtered air. Eirn had never been an out-of-doors kind of Sith, but apparently even she got cabin fever if locked inside too long. Stepping inside the colony's comms centre behind Kyo was almost disappointing; wasn't quite the locked doors and barred windows of the SIS interrogation centre, but was a contained, controlled space, all the same. 

' _Nisha!_ '

Eirn had barely looked up before Kyo had been tackled by another Jedi - and her hand had already twitched to her lightsaber before she realised that this was a friendly hug, not a hostile tackle. The other Jedi was a younger woman - pale and slim, with bright white hair and an aura that betrayed an air of uneasy nervousness.

'You're back! What took you so long? Please tell me you brought an army with you. We could really use one.' The younger Jedi was babbling, too -and apparently utterly unconcerned about Eirn.

'Nadia,' Kyo just replied - her smile splitting all the way into a grin as she returned the younger Jedi's embrace. 'I'm glad you're alright.'

The younger Jedi \- Nadia - continued hugging Kyo fiercely for a long moment, before letting go - bouncing backwards half a step, but never letting up her delight at seeing the older woman. 

'For the moment,' Nadia sighed, her expression slumping. 'So no army, huh?'

'General Daerunn is trying to rally the fleet,' Kyo began, sighing. 'Felix is with the General, helping to push things through. We just have to hold out until they get here.'

(Eirn, who was half watching the conversation play out, shifted uneasily; it was impossible to be anything but on edge, surrounded by so many Jedi, and she was acutely aware that the more on edge she was, the more attention she was going to attract. She tried to distract herself by glancing around the comms centre, though it didn't help - more than one operator was chattering about _enemy contacts_ , and a part of her winced every time)

'Eirn,' Kyo began, 'This is my former padawan, Nadia Grell. Nadia, meet Eirnhaya Illte.'

'Hi,' Nadia began, thrusting a hand out to shake that Eirn knew wouldn't be retracted until she took it. Whatever the younger Jedi lacked in imposing presence, she seemed to make up for in energy, even if it was as much nervous as it was anything else. 'Nice to finally meet you. Uh, we haven't met before, right? I'm sorry if we did-'

'We- haven't,' Eirn managed - at least, she didn't remember anyone resembling the Jedi in front of her, though she also knew that she probably couldn't recall all the Jedi she _had_ met, either. 

They were saved from further awkward introductions by a timely interruption from another Jedi - one with a low, almost gravelly voice that was muffled by a rebreather. Eirn spotted him immediately - a Kel'dor man, an alien rarely seen in the Empire - speaking above the chatter of the comm centre and striding over towards where the three of them were gathered.

'Now this is a meeting for the history books. If we survive this, it will be quite a tale.'

'Master Gnost-Dural,' Kyo just replied - still smiling, before offering a faint, polite, bow. 'I am glad to see you are still in one piece.'

_Gnost-Dural_. Eirn frowned to herself, puzzling at the name; she felt as though she should know it from somewhere, a feeling that never promised anything good. 

'Master Kyo,' Dural replied, his attention shifting between Kyo and Eirn. 'I take it this is your friend?'

Which made Eirn bristle, if only because she loathed being talked about in the third person \- and then pause, before wondering wildly what had been said about her _outside_ of her presence, and what exactly these Jedi would be judging her by.

'It is,' Kyo replied, nodding, before Eirn could speak for herself. 'May I introduce Eirnhaya Illte, formerly of the Odessen Alliance.'

'And the Sith Empire,' Dural added, his own attention all on Eirn. 'I'll admit, I wasn't certain I believed Nisha when she said that you of all people might agree to aid us.'

'Not so loud,' Eirn grumbled - glancing around, half convinced that others were more interested in listening in than attending to their tasks. A paranoia born of a lifetime in the Empire, true, but one she felt justified nursing, especially in this place.

Dural apparently found this funny enough to chuckle at, though what was so funny, Eirn wasn't sure she wanted to know. Jedi humour was a test of her patience on the best of days, and today was not one of those.

'Master Gnost-Dural, at your service,' the man just replied - introducing himself, apparently, though (to Eirn's mild relief) he didn't demand a handshake, or offer a bow that she would be expected to return. 'You will have to forgive our abruptness. The Geonosians are continuing to attack our outer defences.'

'Geonosians?' Eirn replied, warily - nobody had mentioned anything about Geonosians, and Eirn felt _fairly_ confident in saying they were not under Imperial rule. 'I thought Ossus was under attack from the Empire?'

'That it is,' Gnost-Dural replied, nodding briefly. 'The Imperials are using genetically manipulated Geonosians, no doubt as a test of their suitability for use elsewhere. I believe their forces here are being led by Darth Malora, of the Dark Council. Perhaps you are... acquainted with her?'

He looked at Eirn as though he expected her to respond, somehow; as though he expected the traitorous Wrath to be as familiar with the current Dark Council as she'd been with the ones who'd put her on trial for Vitiate's crimes. 

'Not personally,' Eirn replied, though - not letting her dubious, cautious mask slip for an instant. The name had felt familiar even when it had come up in Lana's briefings, though, and Eirn had never managed to pin down why. Eventually, she'd put it down to her own name - _Meliora_ \- and its similarity to this other Darth, but it was an reasoning she'd never felt reassured by.

She was saved from having to deflect the question any further by the abrupt blaring of alarms - accompanied immediately by a scrambling of activity as the comm centre's staff reacted to whatever had prompted them. Before anyone could react, they were abruptly joined by another Jedi - this one a human woman, tall and dark-skinned and wearing armour that looked like it had survived more than its share of encounters with enemies of the Jedi.

'Perimeter alarms, _again_. I'm going to handle it myself this time.' The newcomer glared, too - as though expecting Dural or Kyo to challenge her on the matter.

'Very well,' Dural replied, though - before glancing at Eirn, and adding, 'Take some backup, as well. Our new ally should be able to handle herself. Miss Illte,' he added, 'Tau Idair, our head of security.'

There it was again - being talked about as though she weren't present, and Eirn could feel herself getting uselessly irritated. That irritation evaporated in the focus of other things, though - like _Miss_ , and like Tau Idair, who would have cut an imposing figure even without the Force. With it, Idair looked more than capable of handling herself - never mind Eirn.

'A _Sith_.' Idair was also looking at her as though she'd found something unpleasant on the underside of her boot - not an uncommon reaction from Jedi, though it never stopped feeling like a judgement - or a challenge.

'Who is on your side,' Eirn replied, defensively. It was impossible to miss the hatred that had been spat with that word, though; impersonal, but only in the way that all hatreds of Jedi were. 

'I will vouch for her,' Kyo interrupted, 'And accompany you, if-'

'You have a library to handle,' Idair interrupted, talking over the alarms as well as the senior Jedi. 'Fine,' she added, in a way that suggested that this was the very opposite thereof. 

'Don't worry, Jedi,' Eirn sighed - made a show of sighing, her amateur theatrics winning out against her self-preservation instincts. 'The Empire will be almost as thrilled to see me here as you are.'


	3. Chapter 3

Eirn knew better than to hope that this would be the end of Idair's objections to her presence - not least because of the _this isn't over_ that the Jedi directed at Gnost-Dural as they were leaving. Whatever else Tau Idair was, though, she was utterly focused on her task, immediately turning to leave and barely waiting for Eirn to follow suit.

'Follow me, Sith. Keep up, and don't wander.' When Idair spoke, it was with the irritation of every exasperated commander assigned an underling they didn't want.

It made Eirn feel like a wayward acolyte, and her first impulse was to challenge it - to assert her strength, her _right_ to be here, and it was an urge that took effort to suppress. Even here - _especially_ here, trailing after a Jedi like a lost puppy.

Idair moved briskly and with purpose, and while Eirn wasn't certain of their purpose, she at least managed to keep pace. Brisk as the Jedi was, though, it still afforded Eirn the chance to glance over their surroundings more thoroughly than when she'd been trailing after Kyo. What she'd thought of as the communications hub seemed to actually be a converted farmyard. Amidst the chaos of alarms and patrols, labourers worked at rows of crops or tended to machinery. This wasn't a base of any kind, Eirn realised, but someone's farmyard, hastily half-converted after the Empire's attack.

Their first port of call was one of the outer buildings, guarded by an armed teenager who looked at Idair with admiration and Eirn with a sort of nervous curiosity, but at least had the sense to keep any comments to themselves. Inside of it, Eirn was less surprised than she might have been to see farming equipment alongside weapon racks, though she knew better than to think she had time to manage anything more than a cursory glance.

'So,' she began, though - trying to break that unpleasant silence with something at least halfway diplomatic, 'I-'

'Here,' Idair just interrupted, thrusting a satchel in Eirn's direction, 'Make yourself useful. Carry these. Don't drop them.'

Which made Eirn examine the satchel warily, of course - tug its fastenings open, and examine its contents, only to wish she hadn't.

'Explosives,' Eirn just managed, slightly stupidly. 'I thought you said there was a perimeter breach?'

Idair wasn't wasting any time - signed something off on a tech panel, before turning to leave, her Sith shadow in tow.

'Ossus is full of buried ruins,' Idair started, as they moved. 'The bugs like to use them to move undetected. We collapse a few tunnels, they have a harder time getting to our people, and the colonists get more time to evacuate.' 

'You're evacuating?' Eirn repeated, not feeling any less stupid for it. 

(It explained the chaotic energy of the place, though; the bustle of people, hurried and harried, weighed down with as much as they dared to carry. It wasn't the same terrified desperation as Adasta's, but it didn't need to be; there was still death in the air, and Eirn was still taking longer than she might have liked to catch up with it)

'Not my choice,' Idair snorted. 'But we don't have the people to put up the kind of fight the Empire's looking for.'

For a moment, Eirn wondered if that was another reason Idair was less than thrilled to see her; she'd been hoping for an army, and instead all she had was one Sith. One Sith who, at that, had left the Empire specifically to get away from the wars her people kept picking.

'...Which is why Kyo was requesting aid from the Republic,' Eirn realised - half thinking to herself, as she spoke.

' _Master Kyo_ was petitioning the Republic for aid, yes,' Idair replied, sharply. 'And until they get here,' she added, not missing a beat, 'I'm going to keep assuming they won't. Which means buying as much time as I can to get the civilians out of here.'

Which felt unpleasantly familiar, though that was a feeling Eirn decided not to dwell on. Besides which, there were more pressing matters, like the speeders Idair was marching towards. They were parked slightly haphazardly, scuffed and well-worn and likely hadn't seen a professional mechanic in years.

('Take the rear seat,' Idair began, not waiting for any input from the Sith, 'And hold on.' Which did not inspire confidence, and Eirn wondered for a long moment if it was too late to request she return to SIS custody)

-

When Idair finally set the speeder down, it was out at what Eirn had to assume was the furthest reaches of the colony - near the perimeter alarms the Geonosians had tripped. It kept occurring to her that, out here, nobody would ask too many questions if an accident happened - if Ossus's unwelcome ally fell to an untimely demise, and there would be no proof she hadn't brought it on herself. The brusque, impersonal distrust that Idair kept leaking wasn't helping, either; she didn't have the laser-focused hatred of the former Battlemaster, but Eirn wasn't optimistic enough about Jedi to hope this meant Idair wouldn't murder her, given provocation.

_Which is why you need to stay on her good side. Or, at the very least, not on her bad one._

Being out on the edges of the colony, past the Republic-issue sentry guns and Jedi banners, didn't do anything to stop that nagging, almost-nostalgic familiarity that Ossus came with. Eirn knew that there was not a single person on this world - Jedi _or_ Sith - who would appreciate the comparison, but it kept making itself, all the same. Craggy, reddish-orange deserts, dotted with the ruins of what had clearly once been a bustling urban centre, all under a wide blue sky. Bluer than Korriban's sky, yes - or at least, the Korriban that Eirn remembered - but that just made the contrast sharper, like an artist's rendition of the Sith homeworld.

(No, she realised, not- Korriban itself, but- the Korriban of her parents' romantic stories. The unexplored ruins and untamed deserts that had resisted all Republic comers on behalf of their children, driven into exile. It was a purely romantic notion, of course; Korriban cared no more for the Sith than it did for any other living creature, but Eirn was nothing if not a born romantic)

-

It wasn't long before they stumbled across the Geonosians.

Eirn had never seen one in person before, though she knew vaguely that they were aliens - insectile, and looked on poorly by the Empire, though that hardly set them apart from other non-humans - or non-Sith. These ones certainly lived up to all the ideas she had in her head about insectoid ugliness - thick, spiked carapaces over segmented bodies, and sharp, drooling mandibles that clicked and chittered in the Ossan sunlight. (Iridescent wings that sparkled in that sunlight, refracting tiny rainbows onto everything around them as they twitched and buzzed)

Idair, of course, did not hesitate - threw herself into battle with a wild abandon that would do any Sith proud, focusing her imposing presence on the enemy, carving through them with the ease that determination and a lightsaber allowed. Eirn, on the other hand, did no such thing, not least because she didn't fancy leaping headfirst into danger while clutching the satchel of explosives. That made her a target, though, and she ended up with her lightsaber drawn anyway - deflecting what shots she could, and attempting to dodge those she couldn't. 

The encounter was violent, but brief; modified or no, the Geonosian's carapaces were no match for a lightsaber, and Idair was apparently not in the habit of dragging fights out. Which was fine by Eirn, for the most part, though it meant the moment that when Idair glanced back to her came far sooner than it might have with other Jedi.

'Didn't realise you had a lightsaber.' Idair hadn't extinguished hers, either; wasn't holding it offensively, but was keeping it ready, all the same.

'It's a little hard to be Sith without one,' Eirn just replied, defensively. Probably the wrong thing to say; both because of its tone, and the reminder that she _was_ Sith. The reason, at that, she kept hers lit, in turn; not held defensively, not yet, but kept ready, all the same.

Idair took a moment to process that - glancing up and down over Eirn again, reassessing her. 'I see,' the Jedi replied, eventually - not easing up on Eirn in the slightest.

It went against every one of her instincts, but Eirn made herself extinguish her lightsaber - not least because of the way that keeping it out would have just made her task harder. It was a gesture, she hoped, that Idair would take as some sign of deference - and one that she wouldn't regret, at that.

'Over here,' Idair added, apparently letting the issue go, for now. 'You can see the tunnels they were using,' she added, gesturing with her own lightsaber. 'Couple of grenades should do the trick. Bring down enough rubble to block them, and we can move on.' 

Which Eirn could do; which Eirn did, tossing the grenades one at a time, acutely aware of the way Idair watched her every movement. The part of her that was Sith kept insisting that the Jedi was simply watching her for weakness - that Eirn was being assessed, and not simply found wanting - that was a given, after all - but having those weaknesses mapped out, a plan of attack formed, a contingency prepared. It was difficult not to bristle defensively, as though such a thing wouldn't just have aggravated the Jedi, and no matter how she tried to push the feeling down, Eirn could _feel_ the ridges on her neck and spine trying to stand on end, beneath her armour.

_Breathe, Illte_.

-

The next encounters with the bugs went similarly, Idair taking them apart with a practiced ease that spoke to her experience in dealing with the menace, while Eirn tried very hard not to let the bugs take them _both_ out with a stray shot to the explosives. A part of her worried that Idair might resent it that Eirn was being less aggressive than she was - certainly, the Jedi wasn't above glancing at her sharply when she thought Eirn wouldn't see her, but if Idair had criticisms on that point, she kept them to herself. Indeed, when Idair finally did make conversation, during a particularly long stretch between fights, Eirn rapidly found herself wishing that they could go back to unpleasant silence.

'So tell me something.' It was a statement, not a question; an order, or as close as it seemed Idair would get to giving one. For now, at any rate.

Eirn struggled to repress the urge to sigh to herself; managed it, barely, though it was a contest she knew she'd lose eventually. _Here we go_.

'How exactly,' Idair added, not waiting for Eirn to respond, 'Does a _Sith_ end up with the Republic? Never mind- _here_?'

A question for the ages, and one that Eirn hadn't satisfactorily answered for herself. Not for lack of trying, but her ego demanded one that didn't boil down to 'selfish cowardice', and was yet to supply any ideas as to how she might do that.

'That,' Eirn replied, though - sighing, finally, 'Is a long, classified, story.'

At least, the Empire probably considered it classified, and Eirn doubted the Republic felt much differently. Nobody would want to admit that the former Empire's Wrath was a heretic and a traitor - and a coward, attempting desperately to curry favour with _Jedi_ in order to avoid her rightful fate.

'Right.' Idair did not sound convinced; in truth, Eirn didn't blame her. It wasn't an answer that sounded like anything but an excuse to avoid answering, and of the most obvious and cowardly kind.

'Your Warden and I,' Eirn added, 'Have known each other for… a long time.' Which was true, even if they hadn't exactly had common goals, in the beginning. 'She approached me, because she thought I might be able to help.'

Also true, at least if Kyo could be taken at her word. Everything else, Eirn was happy to leave ambiguous - to let Idair fill in the blanks, to fail to correct the Jedi on whatever assumptions she made. Idair did not seem like the kind of Jedi to make positive ones about Sith, but there was always a first time.

'I see,' Idair just replied, still not sounding either convinced or satisfied with the answer. It was all she was going to get, though; Eirn was not in the habit of volunteering her life story, and especially not to Jedi.

'If you don't believe me,' Eirn added, bravado demanding she at least make this addendum, 'You can ask her yourself when we get back.'

Which got her an amused snort from Idair, as though this were the punchline to some joke Eirn was not privy to. 'Trust me,' Idair replied, 'I intend to.'

Which said nothing positive about Idair's impression of Eirn, and the Sith couldn't help but bristle a little at it. It was an unsurprising attitude, given the circumstances, but that didn't mean she had to like it.

'But I wanted to hear it from you, first,' Idair added - giving Eirn another sharp look.

'Yeah, well,' Eirn replied - scowling defensively, even as she tried not to, 'You have.' Which as comebacks went was as childish as they got, and Eirn regretted every syllable of it. 

-

'Alright. Last stop.' Idair sounded only marginally happier about their arrival at the final alarm site than Eirn felt, and Eirn suspected it had as much to do with the company as the enemy. 

The alarm that had been tripped was visible, here, its mechanism half ripped out of the ground, half still buried in the sandy soil that made up the ground around here. It had been positioned in front of what looked less like a tunnel and more like a cave \- a route that the Jedi had monitored, but not thought to close up until now. Or not been able to; if they hadn't been expecting organised assaults, it might be less of a spectacular tactical failure, though Eirn wasn't sure how charitable she was feeling about the Jedi's management of this place.

'The entrance here is bigger,' Idair added - unnecessarily, and Eirn wasn't sure which one of them she was saying this for. 'But there should be smaller tunnels further in. If we can collapse those, that should do it.'

Idair had already taken point, heading inside with a kind of brisk confidence that spoke more of wanting this over than anything else. It was a sentiment that Eirn could understand, and even shared, but that didn't mean she was any more eager to venture into a dark cave they already knew had played host to mutant bugs.

'Jedi,' Eirn murmured, as they walked - stuck for how else she should address Idair, and only certain that now was quite possibly the worst time to ask about it, 'Wait. Can you-'

Idair had paused at her words - seemed about to turn on Eirn when she paused, having sensed- if not exactly what Eirn had, then certainly enough to make her stop. After a moment, though, she just gestured for silence - before continuing down the tunnel, more cautiously than before.

What had caught Eirn's concern - what Eirn hoped Idair had picked up on - was the- _presence_ up ahead, the formless, chaotic hostility that all of the mutated Geonosians had possessed. This, though, was different - was concentrated, as if to a knife point; as if it were poison, brewed in its most virulent form. It promised nothing good, especially when the floor of the tunnel dropped away, opening up to a larger cavern that was lit only by what ambient light made it in this far. 

There were outcroppings of rock that offered cover from below, which was just as well - because it was already occupied, by quite possibly the biggest of the mutant Geonosians that Eirn had seen so far. It was mutated horribly, sagging a little under its own weight but no less insectile for its increased size. Eirn had no idea what Malora had hoped to gain by creating these monstrosities, and rather hoped she didn't have to find out.

'Holy mother of-,' Idair whispered, half to herself - some oath or another, cut short in wonder at the spectacle ahead of them. 'That's- a lot of bug.'

At least there only seemed to be the one of them, for now; Eirn didn't like the idea that thought prompted that there might be others of this size, hidden away for the right moment. (Or worse, perhaps, and not for the first time, she remembered other projects, made by other Sith, that she'd had the dubious honour of having to dispose of)

'I'll get its attention,' Eirn started, quietly - setting the explosives satchel down out of sight, for the moment. In a fight, it would only be a liability, and something this big was going to require them both. 'You… hit it while it's distracted.'

Which sounded an awful lot like she was issuing orders, and for a moment, Eirn had forgotten this wasn't her mission - that Idair was in charge, supposedly.

Idair shot her a sharp look for it, too - before considering the idea, and nodding sharply. 'Alright,' she began - apprehensively, as if she didn't trust the Sith not to turn against her, an idea that Eirn couldn't help but be insulted by. 

( _Because that's the only thing she has to be concerned about. Your ego is as inflated as it is unjustified, Illte._ )

'Whenever you're ready,' Idair added - straightening her posture, after a moment, before focusing entirely on the Geonosian. 

_Right. Giant bugs. You've killed plenty of giant bugs before, Illte. Just be glad this one isn't infused with the Force._

Which wasn't a reassuring thought, and Eirn ended up having to push it firmly to one side. She stood, slowly - made herself stand, making herself a target, but- well, that was the whole idea, wasn't it?

' _Hey! Ugly! Up here!_ ' Eirn didn't just shout, either - but projected her voice, pulling on the Force and using it to grab the mutated insect's attention in a way that merely shouting would not have managed.

The insect, in return- roared, or something like it, spewing spittle from its mandibles before hocking something more deliberately in Eirn's direction. Eirn reached out to shield herself, instinctively - projecting a fragment of a shield, just enough to protect herself from the mucus that splattered against the invisible barrier, before dripping unceremoniously to the floor. It was disgusting, but it didn't hiss or spit, which was more than Eirn had been hoping for. 

Her attention was all on the giant bug, though - it had to be, as the creature's attention was all on her, in turn. For a moment, it tried to fly - to buzz its wings uselessly, as though they could lift its oversized body off the ground the way its smaller ancestors could. It barely managed to clear the ground, flailing hopelessly for a moment, its legs splaying wildly as it failed to balance and it came crashing back down. None of this was a problem for Eirn - but it was for Idair, who'd looped around and tried to get to the creatures exposed rear. 

Idair moved in time, barely - dodged the creature's legs, swiping at them with her lightsaber, expecting that this one would be as vulnerable to it as the smaller ones outside had been. To her surprise, though - and to Eirn's, as well - the creature's chitin resisted her blade, hissing and scoring but failing entirely to break. All it did was irritate the insect, which turned on Idair, swiping angrily with one of its front claws. Idair had her lightsaber up to block the blow before the creature even made it, and it glanced off harmlessly, but that did nothing to deter the mutant bug, and it lunged again for the Jedi, chittering and squealing all the way.

' _I'm over here_ ,' Eirn snarled, an attempt to divert the creature's attention back to herself, (the Force tearing at her throat with every word, the pain it caused looping back into the power it generated, self-sustaining at the cost of the Sith who used it the only way she knew how), ' _Stupid_.'

(the pain was why she used it sparingly; why she shouted, why her words were short and few, was the price she paid for these screams, every time. If there was some other way, she'd never found it; was reduced to her fourteen-year-old self, every time, scared and angry and unable to do anything but lash out at the monster in front of her)

It got the bug's attention, too - the creature whirling back around, not pausing for a moment - letting the momentum carry it as it struck at Eirn, its claws blunt enough that they just bounced off her armour even as they did it no real harm. The blow caught Eirn in the chest, though - hard enough to wind her, hard enough to knock her not just down but through the air, bouncing onto the floor hard enough to force out whatever breath she still had in her. For a moment, the world reeled and sagged, Eirn gasping uselessly for air as she struggled through the pain and shock to pull herself together. She managed it, though - staggered to her feet, forcing air back into her lungs and focus into her mind, grabbing her pain and using it to prop herself upright, if only for a moment. 

The mutated Geonosian, though, had lost interest in her - had turned fully on Idair, swiping at the Jedi and succeeding only in catching its claws on her lightsaber again. Its shell resisted the plasma blades, all the same - a result, Eirn could only assume, of Malora's unholy tinkering, and all she could think of for a long moment was the creatures that Tagriss had stitched together in that rotten temple on Ilum.

Eirn tried to breathe in - tried to pull enough breath to shout and just ended up hissing in pain. Pain, though - she could use pain, draw power from it, the only way she knew how. Idair had the creature's attention again, but that just meant its rear was turned to Eirn - the delicate, oversized wings, the powerful arteries that supplied them, the cracks in the creature's unnaturally enhanced armour that gave way to soft, lightsaber-vulnerable flesh. Eirn seized the opportunity and launched herself at the Geonosian's exposed back, aiming to land herself somewhere on the creature's shoulders and missing when one of its oversized wings struck her mid jump, sending her tumbling to one side. She grabbed at the first thing that came to hand, and got a fistful of crushed wing for her trouble \- apparently they were fragile enough to crumple under her grasp, even if they could still throw her off if they caught her by surprise.

The bug apparently felt that, too - screeched in pain, reeling backwards in an attempt to shake off its unwanted passenger. Eirn dangled awkwardly for a moment, trying to grapple for a better hold when the wing tore, pulled free by the weight of the Sith hanging from it. That got her another screech of pain from the creature, this one louder, and it spun back to face Eirn, swiping blindly at her in a mixture of pain and rage. Eirn dodged, barely - threw the severed wing at the creature as though it could serve as anything other than momentary distraction. That moment was all she needed, though, to respond with a blow of her own, this one from her lightsaber - enough to hold the insect's attention by itself, with or without the Force.

Idair took the opportunity with gusto, slicing first at the insect's remaining wings with her lightsaber, before leaping up for herself - not the same way Eirn had, but to plunge her lightsaber into the torn, ragged wound that losing its wing had left behind. The creature squealed and screamed again as Idair's lightsaber found its mark, buried in insectile flesh that could not resist it as its chitin could, before it finally began to collapse under its own weight and injuries. Idair extinguished her lightsaber to remove it, letting the creature drop away from underneath her as it slumped forward; Eirn dodged out of the way as best she could, careful as much to avoid being crushed as anything else. 

Idair had already relit her saber, though, and wasted no time in jumping onto the half-vanquished insect's carapace, finding some spot near the head where that armour cracked, and drove her saber in - not satisfied until the bug's head was severed, the danger passed, and the last of its death rattles were over.

For a long moment, neither of them said anything; both Jedi and Sith let their wounds catch up with them, wallowed in whatever passed for victory around here before attempting to move on. Idair was the first to move; the first to nudge the insect's corpse with her boot, cautiously watching for some kind of a reaction, and not seeming all that reassured when none came. The Force still hummed through it, of course; even if the creature itself was dead, all things carried bugs and parasites which had their own life, their own power. 

'Have there been,' Eirn started, after that moment had passed - after her breath had steadied, 'Many like that?'

'Not this size,' Idair replied, her focus still on the mutated insect. 'Either we got lucky, or Malora's getting desperate.'

_Lucky_ was not the word Eirn would have used, but she let it go; the idea that any Sith was getting desperate was a bad one, but a Sith this deep in alchemical studies would have worse things up their sleeves than giant mutant bugs. 

'Besides,' Idair added, 'We still have a job to do here,' she finished, looking to Eirn, finally.

That, at least, Eirn could not argue with.

-

Bringing the tunnel entrance down, after that, felt almost like an afterthought, and Eirn wasn't sorry when Idair declared the task complete. For now, at any rate; Eirn could only assume that there would be further perimeter breaches between now and whenever this world released its grip on her, and that each one would have insects just as ugly and deadly. To say nothing else of whatever else the Empire had brought to Ossus.

_What have you let yourself in for, Illte_.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> not dead yet


End file.
